Reviving Energy East
A little incentive and Quebec might stop opposing pipeline
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs was “shocked” that at the recent First Ministers’ meeting in Montreal, there was no urgency or strategy to deal with the Alberta oil crisis and was disappointed at Quebec actively blocking the Energy East pipeline through that province, and felt that the confederation was “fractured.”
Meanwhile, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has criticized the barriers that still exist between provinces, which he claimed acted like a tariff of seven per cent. He suggested that Ottawa introduce a “Charter of Economic Rights,” which would clarify the rights of Canadians to sell their goods and services and exercise their trades and professions across Canada.
To win provincial agreement, Ottawa would ensure that provinces would have revenue sources under their control for health care. Federal tax points would be transferred to the provinces. Equalization transfers from Ottawa would guarantee that poorer provinces had adequate financial resources to deliver care.
Pallister did fail to mention that this would require major changes to the Canada Health Act (CHA). Certainly it seems reasonable to allow provinces to experiment and seek greater efficiencies by looking to health delivery in Europe and other areas with successful blended public/private health care systems.
However, Quebec has also persistently violated part of the CHA by refusing pay for the full medical expenses of its residents requiring urgent treatment in other parts of Canada. It is the only province not to sign the Reciprocal Medical Billing Agreement (RMBA).
For Pallister’s “Grand Bargain” to work, Quebec must agree to sign the RMBA inasmuch as it would no longer be theoretically violating part of a federal law (albeit never enforced).
NB Premier Frank McKenna in 2011 stated: “Moving oil to markets should be “a nation-building exercise.” In December 2012, the NB legislature unanimously endorsed the pipeline. Premier Pauline Marois initially did not oppose Energy East: “There’s certainly an economic advantage given the jobs that could be created in Quebec.”
In the spring of 2014, Philippe Couillard favoured the pipeline. He argued that Quebec, as it received equalization payments, owed it to other provinces to help sell their products. Later that year, he and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne attached a list of seven conditions, but NB Premier Brian Gallant termed these “very reasonable and achievable.” Quebec Premier Francois Legault in 2016, indicated that he would support the Energy East pipeline if the province received billions of dollars in oil royalties. However, more recently, he has adamantly opposed construction of the Energy East pipeline. This is despite the fact that from 2009-2013, the number of tanker cars carrying oil increased by a factor of 50, and pipeline transport, according to the Fraser Instutute, is four times safer.
According to Kenneth Green of the Fraser Institute, it would have generated an additional $34 billion to the GDP an additional 321,000 one-year jobs across Canada, and $7.6 billion in total tax revenues for Canada.
Energy East may not be dead. Premier Legault failed to mention a few relevant points: In December 2015, Enbridge reversed a section of Line 9 into Montreal. By June 2018, 53 per cent of oil used in Quebec was coming from the West.
Andrew Scheer has pledged that a federal Conservative government would seek to revive the project. NB Premier Blaine Higgs recently spoke with TransCanada CEO Russ Girling, and indicated that the company was willing to revive Energy East if it has the assistance of the provinces along the route; only Quebec is opposed. How could the impasse be broken? Perhaps if Quebec were allowed to increase its health revenue by giving it more autonomy, as suggested by Premier Pallister. Moreover, freed from the constraints of the CHA, Quebec patients might in future see shorter wait times and improved efficiencies with a limited public/ private system.
Consider the following compromise: Quebec would no longer oppose the Energy East pipeline and would sign the RMBA. In exchange, it (and all other provinces) would be granted more autonomy to experiment within its borders with limited privatization of health delivery without penalties from Ottawa.
As Peter MacKay stated, “Energy East is a nation-building project that can help secure Canada’s economic future and energy independence while fostering national unity and helping our allies.”
Ottawa physician Dr. Charles S. Shaver was born in Montreal. He graduated from Princeton University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and returned to Canada in 1970. He is Chair of the Section on General Internal Medicine of the Ontario Medical Association. The views here are his own.